A fireman tries to douse the blaze at the Haldiram’s outlet on Wednesday. Picture by Amit Datta

The Haldiram’s outlet at the Exide crossing on Chowringhee caught fire on Wednesday morning, for the second time in the past three months and the third in three years.

Six tenders fought for around six hours to douse the blaze. No one was injured.

The flames originated from a mezzanine-floor room which fire officers said had been built illegally. The room above the godown — where, too, the flames had spread — was stacked with inflammable materials, such as plywood cartons. Fire-fighters said the dousing operation was hampered as the cartons blocked their way.

The fire, however, did not spread to the glass-fronted restaurant and the kitchen, where seven employees were sleeping. The staff spotted the flames around 6.50am and informed the two guards, who called the fire brigade.

Four tenders reached the spot around 7.15am and were soon joined by two others.

Even at 12.30pm, small fires could be seen in the godown and on the mezzanine floor.

Forensic experts and CESC officials will inspect the outlet to ascertain the cause of the fire. Sources in the fire department said a burnt switchboard in the mezzanine-floor room had led them to suspect a short-circuit as the cause.

Uday Narayan Adhikary, a divisional officer in the fire services department, said the room had been built illegally. "It’s not there in the plan. And despite three fires in three years, the authorities did not take any fire-prevention measures. Nor were there any extinguishers in the godown and the room from where the fire originated."

A fire-fighter said the blaze could have ended in a disaster had it spread to the kitchen, around 20 feet from the godown, where a number of cooking gas cylinders were kept.

Rajesh Subarno, the deputy commissioner of police (south), said the outlet would remain closed till the forensic department and CESC allowed its reopening. The outlet remained closed for around a month after the first blaze in June 2005 and for two weeks after the second in August 2008.

The police have asked the fire services department to lodge an FIR against the outlet.

“We had arrested the owner, Mahesh Agrawal, in September. But he was granted bail after the fire services department gave a clearance certificate to the outlet and allowed it to be reopened," said Jawed Shamim, the deputy commissioner (detective department).

The fire department, however, denied the charge. "We had never given the outlet any clearance certificate. We had only sent a list of recommendations which the management said it would implement," said Gopal Bhattacharya, the director of the fire and emergency services.

The outlet has a workshop on the first floor for which the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) had not issued any trade licence. "When Agrawal approached us for a licence, we asked him to produce a clearance certificate from the fire department. He is yet to produce the paper," said Bhaskar Ghosh, the chief civic manager (licence).

Why is the CMC allowing the outlet to run without the licence? "We don’t have the right to close down a business establishment," said mayoral council member (licence) Dipankar De.